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<p><i>Collecting Mexico</i> centers on the ways in which aesthetics and commercialism intersected in officially sanctioned public collections and displays in late nineteenth-century Mexico. Shelley E. Garrigan approaches questions of origin, citizenry, membership, and difference by reconstructing the lineage of institutionally collected objects around which a modern Mexican identity was negotiated. In doing so, she arrives at a deeper understanding of the ways in which displayed objects become linked with nationalistic meaning and why they exert such persuasive force.</p>
<p>Spanning the Porfiriato period from 1867 to 1910, <i>Collecting Mexico</i> illuminates the creation and institutionalization of a Mexican cultural inheritance. Employing a wide range of examples-including the erection of public monuments, the culture of fine arts, and the representation of Mexico at the Paris World's Fair of 1889-Garrigan pursues two strands of thought that weave together in surprising ways: national heritage as a transcendental value and patrimony as potential commercial interest.</p>
<p><i>Collecting Mexico</i> shows that the patterns of institutional collecting reveal how Mexican public collections engendered social meaning. Using extensive archival materials, Garrigan's close readings of the processes of collection building offer a new vantage point for viewing larger issues of identity, social position, and cultural/capital exchange.<br></p>
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